Enhanced inspection of NPPs using expert systems as a new approach

The planning, execution, and post-analysis of a reactor inspection require the inspector to analyze a tremendous amount of data. The review of data before and after an inspection uses up most of the inspector's time. The need to decrease that time motivated the development of a prototype expert system for inspection planning. An exploratory expert system consisting of 53 rules was built, and it was used to assess the performance of a nuclear power plant (NPP) by looking at aspects such as operating level, transient frequency, engineered safety features (ESFs) actuations, and review procedures. The results obtained appear consistent with the experience of NPP inspectors and operators, thereby suggesting the utility of expert systems methodology to the nuclear industry.